Here is the cool contemporary voice of a young woman who travels, observes, falls in love, and writes. In poised and elegant lyrics she reflects, remembers, and speculates, at times speaking directly to an unseen listener with wit and feeling, at others expressing tenderness for family or friends.

A collection of the work of 28 young and mid-career poets - who came to prominence in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s - notable for their variety, their fresh approaches to poetic form and subject - and their distinctive but complementary voices. This book is a companion to the bestselling Classic New Zealand Poets in Performance and Contemporary New Zealand Poets in Performance. It presents material from the Aotearoa New Zealand Poetry Sound Archive, completed in 2004 - more than two hours of poets reading their own work. The accompanying book contains the texts of the poems as they have been read. Selected bibliographies and short biographies for each poet are also included, as well as an appendix of variant readings.

Sarah Quigley, a versatile and vibrant writer, publishes fiction and criticism as well as poetry. Sharp, clear, witty and sometimes poignant, many of her poems start from real life experiences. Through the process of creation, the private is transformed into the universal.

Often Quigley writes about loss, the poems preserving what time has taken away.